Dying Wish
by Rose151
Summary: Stacy Stickler arrives in a mysterious area and gets told that she died. Her quest: to find out what her 'unfinished business' is to finally enter Heaven. Based off the Canadian 90's cartoon. Pairing: Stacy x Bradley of course
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

She felt herself laying on a comfortable mattress of some sort. Just waking up, groaning and stretching from what seemed to be a _really_ comfortable sleep, the young girl decided not to open her eyes yet: reality would have to wait for her first. She sat up and felt the almost TOO soft fabric of a sheet under her fingers. Did her Mom put on new sheets at some point?

"_Really soft…"_ She thought. Breathing in a sigh, she finally opened her eyes.

Well, she was right about one thing, she was in a bed. But a CANOPY bed?! She never had one before let alone sheets that were completely draped in white! Looking around the room, it was obvious that she was lost. The room was huge and circular: a piano in one corner, violet draped curtains for the windows and…someone sitting on the edge of her bed?!

A startled yell was her reaction. "Hello." The figure said.

"WHO…who are you and what do you want with me?!"

His features did not change. "I am but your aid through this process of your stage."

"WHA-what are you _talking_ about?!"

"This is only the first step of your journey. The road will be hard, but it will benefit everyone in the long run."

"JOURNEY?! Where AM I and why am I here?!"

"You mean…they never _told _you?"

"Told me WHAT?!"

He placed a hand on hers. "I'm sorry to be the one to have to tell you this, Ms. Stickler. But you're not on Earth anymore. You're Dead."


	2. Chapter 1

"No…NO! It CAN'T be true!" The young girl jumped out of bed and, scared out of her mind, reached the nearest door to run through it. She found herself fleeing through a long hallway filled with various works of art. Reaching the end, another door was present. She opened it to find herself outside…but not in any form of an, 'outside' that she only knew too well.

Birds, trees, mountains…and a large castle stood before her within the distance of the cliff she found herself on. It all seemed so vast, exquisite, yet…odd. Especially from the piles of clouds separating the two things from merging.

"I'm not dead. I'm NOT dead! NO! This isn't fair! Heaven wouldn't be this cruel!" She started to search around the perimeter, desperately calling for her parents, her friends, anyone that would let her believe that this was all just another bad dream. At one point, she came back to the cliff. Looking at the view before her, her knees suddenly buckled.

"…Mom." She started to cry. Probably the hardest cry that the young soul had since she doesn't know where to remember.

"Stacy?"

She looked up at him. The same stranger who just moments ago told her that she wasn't alive. Stacy felt so trapped, alone, scared, helpless…no words can describe everything that she was feeling all at that time. All she can muster while she looked at her stranger was a shaky, "Why?" He knelt beside her.

"It couldn't be helped. It was just, 'your time.'"

"…I don't wanna be dead."

"No one wants to. But I understand your pain."

" 'Understand my…' No, you DON'T understand my pain! I'm only 8 YEARS OLD! My life hasn't even STARTED yet! All the things that I thought about doing are USELESS now! Being a pilot, a singer, a gymnast… Don't you understand what this MEANS? I can't hang out with my friends anymore, I can't be with my mom or dad, I can't take care of Frank, I can't do ANYTHING! There's nothing I can do…"

His features never changed. "You're right: I _don't_ understand. But I have a solid idea of what it's like to suddenly have your life change like this."

Stacy stared.

"I'm known here as a sort of, 'spirit guide'. I take the newly arrived souls and show them the path to leading a good afterlife. Not one of the cases are comforting at first, but knowing what will happen in the end is the best thing that I know. You may think that it's all over, but it's really just the beginning."

"…What _do_ I do, now?"

For the first time that Stacy knew him, he actually smiled. "I have some good news for you. You have an opportunity to see your friends and family one last time."

Her heart almost exploded out of her chest. "REALLY?! I can have my body back and everything?!"

"Well, not exactly. The task that we planned for you seems simple, but it will also be very difficult. All you have to do is return to Earth, enter the dreams of your loved ones and tell them your last goodbye. The only rule is that you can't overstay your visit. Do you think you can do it?"

Stacy stared at the ground before her. "So after that, I can never see them again?"

"I'm sorry, but yes. The only way after that is from up here."

After a moment of concentration and thought, she opened her eyes, breathed out a sigh and responded. "Well, at this point, I'll do anything to see them again."

The Guardian placed his hands on her shoulders and gave her a serious look. "Are you absolutely SURE? You understand what will happen after your done, right?"

"…Yup."

He gave her a smile.


	3. Chapter 2

Another day had passed, but that didn't really matter in Mrs. Stickler's life anymore. She worked, came home, did some cleaning, basic stuff…but none of it mattered…because her daughter wasn't there. That night went by as it had been for the past whatever nights since… But it was a TINY bit easier each day. She didn't know how or could even feel it, but it was. After another long trial of getting ready for bed, she went up to the bedroom door that belonged to her pride and joy. Opening it and looking inside, she closed it to go to her room and trying once again (but failing) not to cry herself to sleep.

In itself, the process of sleep is to basically rest ones self for the next day. Dreams appear-to manifest the problems that one is going through in their life and for things to come. Ever since that day, Stella's dreams have usually been those of blissfulness into pure torture. The dream for that night went the same, ending with her on her knees crying because of another tragedy. While she had her head in her hands, however, she never noticed someone coming up to her…

"…Mom?"

She slowly looked up to find Stacy standing there.

"Please don't cry, Mom. I'm here."

"…Stacy? Is…is that you?!"

She shook her head, 'Yes'.

"You're not just another illusion of my daughter that's going to fade away?!"

She shook her head, 'No'.

Shaky hands reached out to cup Stacy's face. "…Stacy! My baby!" They reached for each other in a tight embrace and cried, but this one was a happy one.

**************************************************************

That's really how all of Stacy's visits into the others dreams went that night. Emotional reunions, the dreadful explanation that she is only there for that time and can never come back, talking, hanging out, then leaving. At one point, she had one more mind to wonder into. Stacy wasn't sure how this was going to turn out.

Arriving at her best friends room, she found him there: face half buried into his pillow. There was a very dull and depressed feel in the air. Walking further, she found his glasses on top of a counter and looked through them: various water and grease marks filled his lenses indicating that he had been crying, and rather very badly. Stacy stopped next to his bed.

"Bradley…" Reaching a hand to his head, a bright light shown around her to disappear from his room.

A pitch black area is where she arrived. She looked around…to find a door close by. Stacy went to it. Inside were various "zoom" and "whoosh" noises, plastic crashing against one another and various battle cries.

"And so, the great Megapower Destroyer defeats the unknown invaders to further save the Earth from the forces of evil and bring peace to all mankind! Too bad he defeated them all without knowing exactly _where_ they came from! MAYBE they came from…" He waited for a response. "I SAID, MAYBE they came from…!" A moment more… "Stace?" Nothing.

Stacy waited more at the door, but when she heard nothing, she decided to finally go inside. It was Bradley's bedroom again, except for the various toys on the floor. She looked over at him to find him in a leg-hugging position. His head was on his knees. Did she just hear him sniffle?

"It's not the same without you, Stacy…"

"What are you talking about, B-Man? I'm right here."

Bradley's head shot up at the sound of her voice.

"St-Stace? Is that you?"

She got annoyed. "Of course it's me, pea-for-brains!"

"STACY!" Bradley just gave her a body crushing hug. "It's you! It's really you! I'm so glad you're ok!"

"Bradley…" She coughed out. He realized what he was doing and released her.

"This is awesome! You're back and everything! We can go hang out, play, all kinds of stuff! It'd be like nothing ever happened-"

"BRADLEY! …You DO realize that you're dreaming, right?"

His incredible smile slowed to a frown. "So…you're NOT the real Stacy…?"

"Of course I am! Look, I can't stay here for long. I'm on some sort of time limit."

"Time limit?!"

"…Yeah. I'm mainly here to tell you that I'm ok and to give you one last goodbye."

"Good- …Oh…ok…" Bradley's frown got worse and he looked at the floor.

"B-Man…" Stacy sighed. "Well, they never actually TOLD me how long all this will take, so I guess we could hang out-"

"COOL!" They stared at each other. "…Ssso, you saw your parents?"

"Yeah"

"And the rest of the Gang?"

"Uh-huh."

"…Everything turn out ok?"

"…Yeah."

Silence. A moment later, Stacy started noticing Bradley laughing to himself.

"WHAT'S so funny?" She demanded with hands on her hips.

"…D-Did…did you go see Principal Coffin?"

"YEAAAH…_why_?!

He was having trouble controlling himself. "Did…d-did you haunt him or anything?"

"NOT! I'm not immature like YOU, Bradley!"

"Come ON, Stace! It would've been PERFECT! Just think about it!" Then he did this whole impression of Stacy being taunting to Mr. Coffin, him being all scared and Stacy making demands on treating everyone better and giving the students no homework and the such. "Don't TELL me you didn't do that!!"

"…" Her eyes glanced over at him. "Well, maybe I did SOMETHING…"

"AWESOME! I KNEW you couldn't resist an opportunity like that! Tell me everything!"

Though it wasn't the BEST subject in the world, Stacy told Bradley about her 'ghostly' experience. Afterwards, they talked more, played with some toys, the usual stuff…except that this would be the last time they could really do it. At some point, Stacy started to realize how long she had been there. But convincing Bradley that she had to go was not going to be easy. Not at all.

"Oh, Stace! I just thought of something that I'd been wanting to-"

"B-Man, wait a second." Gathering her thoughts together… "I've been here for at least a half hour now. Usually at this time, I would leave."

That frown came back. "But…but Stacy!"

"I'm sorry, Bradley. I can't help it. It's what they want."

"…NO! Stacy, wait!" He grabbed onto her wrist. "PLEASE! Don't go! Just a little longer! …_Please?_"

She looked at that pleading face of his…and thought maybe it be ok to stay a LITTLE longer…

"Ok, B-Man! But if I get in trouble, I'm blaming it on you!"

"YES! Bradley: 1, Heavens: 0!"

Stacy just sighed. They decided to sit on the bed.

"Stace?" She looked up. "What's Heaven like?"

"…Don't really know. Haven't had time to explore it that much."

"You know…I'm really gonna miss you when you're gone."

"Me too, Bradley."

For what seemed like forever, they shared one last hug. Neither wanted to let the other one go. But in the end, Stacy pushed herself away from it. Bradley immediately noticed her tears and, almost unconsciously…wiped them away with a free hand. Looking at the other realized the other looking back. And for some reason, they got closer…and closer…

***************************************

…Until Stacy realized she woke up to where she was at the very beginning.


	4. Chapter 3

"**I'm back here?"**

**She looked around and saw her Spirit Guide leaning against a wall. "It seems so, Ms Stickler."**

"**But I was just down on Earth. Why am I- Wait! You sent me back up here, didn't you?!"**

**He nodded.**

"**But…that's not fair! THAT'S NOT FAIR!! I wasn't finished, yet! How DARE you DO this to me! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!" Stacy repeated those words as her fists constantly hit the man's chest letting all her anger and frustration of the situation out. At one point she started sobbing. "It's not fair…"**

"**I'm sorry, Stacy, but time ran out. I gave you an extra length of time to let you take care of what you needed to." She sobbed harder. "It seems like it paid off in the long run, though."**

**And then stopped completely. "…What?"**

"**I have good news. You're able to return to Earth."**

**A huge smile appeared on Stacy Stickler's face at that moment. "WHAT?! REALLY?! OOH THANK YOU - THANK YOU - THANK YOU!!! You have NO idea how much this means to me!!"**

"**Ms Stickler!" He tried breaking free from the overly-excited girl's embrace. "That's not all the details! You're able to return to Earth, but not in human form!"**

**Stacy finally let go and looked up at him.**

"**You'll be returning as a spirit. A sort of, 'Guardian Angel'."**

"**Why?"**

"**It seems like you have some unfinished business that needs attending to."**

" '**Unfinished…' I don't understand."**

"**It means," He knelt in front of her. "When someone dies and has a goal that never got achieved, their soul remains in limbo on Earth until they're able to find the answer."**

**That left Stacy even more confused. "But…what do I need to get accomplished?"**

"**Unfortunately I can't tell you that. You have to find out on your own."**

**She sadly looked at her feet. Figuring that she wasn't going to get an answer, Stacy thought on. "So I'm gonna be a Guardian Angel, huh? Cool! But…for who?"**

**He gently ruffled her hair. "You'll find out soon enough."**

"**Is there a time limit for this, too?"**

"**With this, you're given enough time as you need to take care of it."**

"**Well THAT'S a relief!" She sighed. "When do I start?"**

"**When you are ready."**

**Stacy looked over to the side and thought about what to do. At one point, her eyes trailed over to her Guide who gave her a comforting smile. "Just one more question."**

"**Anything."**

"**What…what happens after I find what I'm searching for?"**

"**You'll be sent back here, officially becoming an angel."**

"**Be sent back here…" She bit her lip. "Well, I guess I won't know what will happen until I do it!"**

"**What are your thoughts?"**

"**I think," Looking up at the Spirit, a strong will of confidence spread her face. "Let's do it!"**

************************************************

**Two eyes opened after a peaceful sleep and saw a figure in front of it. The figure had a solid, yet not completely whole figure. Something like a ghost. But it wasn't threatening. It seemed…rather familiar…**

**The ghost like figure opened it's eyes and looked over at what was at her. Her face met with a nose sniffing curiously. That nose belonged to what was probably the only nose that the young spirit-girl knew of. The Stickler family's pet wiener-dog, Frank.**


End file.
